Depths of Imagination

Playing in email inboxes everywhere is a fun video starring subway travellers on a staircase that looks and sounds like a piano. With luck, you've seen it. Piano Staircase comes from The Fun Theory, whose purpose is to make green behaviour fun.

You'll find Piano Staircase over at TheFunTheory.com, along with a couple of other wonderful videos, Bottle Bank Arcade Machine and The World's Deepest Bin. Be prepared to laugh out loud.

The DIY Face-Painting Party: Fun and Frugal!

The Nov. 4 issue of Toronto4Kids has an article on do-it-yourself face-painting. The article gives tips for creating professional-looking faces on children with almost no practice. Read it only as a lesson on what not to do for a fun DIY face-painting party.

The lines of the animal that look so easy on the article's accompanying photograph take skill and the right brush. There's the added challenge of copying an intricate design onto a moving, bumpy face.

The probable outcome is that the designs will be time-consuming and sloppy, the children will be bored and the party atmosphere will be flattened.

Fortunately, there are easier ways to have enormous fun at a DIY face-painting party.

Rosie the Clown's #1 Favourite DIY Face-Painting Party

Let the kids paint each other. This is great fun for children as soon as they can hold brushes without making a complete mess. Toddlers enjoy dabbling on Rosie the Clown's hand. Teens who've been decorating the young ones end up painting each other. It's fun.

It's also a little messy, so it's not right for every occasion.

Rosie the Clown's #2 Favourite DIY Face-Painting Party

Recruit teenage girls or moms from among your guests to paint the children's faces. There are usually a few willing volunteers. Have them paint simple things and add glitter. No practice in advance is needed.

Hosts are amazed at how well this works. The faces look great, and the children are happy. Happiness is the goal.

Materials
• Paints. The homemade paints suggested by the article are a handicap. You'll be much better served by a palette of quality, hypoallergenic face-paints.
• Brushes. Provide different-size brushes for everyone who'll be painting. If the bristles are too floppy or too stiff, they won't paint well, so check before buying.
• Sponges. For covering large areas, cut up household sponges into pieces; they're rough but ready.
• Glitter. Dollar stores often have packages of fine-grain glitter in various colours.

Driving on Bear Pavement

Did you hear the one about the man who tried to drive in a carpool lane by buckling a teddy bear into his kid's car seat? It's true. Police caught the man twice, fining him hundreds of dollars. They explained for the driver slowly, "This is not a real person." (cbc.ca)

The apprehended man didn't know the secret to fooling carpool-lane guards. It's to sing along with the stuffed riders. In good weather, roll down the window. Play a CD of children's songs. Sing with joyful abandon, out of tune. The police will be completely taken in, and you won't be.

Spooky Hallowe'en Treats

With Hallowe'en fast approaching, making ghoulish goodies hits the to-do list. The internet has a million-and-one recipes for spooky, tasty holiday treats. Here are some of Rosie the Clown's favourites; they're simple and quick enough for a clown to make and have high fun value.

Wiggly Watermelon Worms
Coffin Sandwiches
Eyeball Cupcakes
Skeleton Hands
Hand Ice Mold With Dragon's Blood Punch
Chocolate-Covered Mice
Big list of delicious Hallowe'en recipes

9/9/9 - A Special Day

Today is a special day. It's the 9th day of the 9th month of the 9th year, or, 9-9-9. There'll be another special day next year on October 10, which is 10-10-10. However, this is the last time the phenomenon will occur in single digits for, oh, about a thousand years.

To some, the number 9 is lucky; to others, unlucky. The Chinese revere it; the Japanese abhor it. All agree that 9 is an extraordinary number and that three 9s are powerful.

US President Obama may have been thinking about the power of 9 as he prepared to address Congress this evening. Or maybe not, who knows? Will 9-9-9 be lucky for Obama and America, or unlucky? Who knows? It's a very special, very mysterious day.



"Large-heartedness . . . is part of the American character." - Obama, 09/09/09. Watch video here.

When Is a Canadian Not a Canadian?

Happy Bastille Day - Let's Eat Cake!

The French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille prison by hungry Parisians on July 14, 1789. Bastille Day is France's national day of celebration.

In July, 1789, the starving citizens of Paris had had enough of the ruling monarchy. The aristocrats were fabulously wealthy and stunningly insensitive to the common folk. They were truly, truly out to lunch. When the Queen was told that the people had no bread to eat, she responded, "Well, then, let them eat cake." Since there was no cake for the poor to eat, they took over the country, cut off the heads of all of the rich people, and ate their cake.

A stirring performance of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, is heard in the movie Casablanca. Movie clip: Casablanca (1942, USA).

Play the animation below to cut off a head. Then enjoy a piece of cake.

Happy Bastille Day!

La Marseillaise
L'Hymne national français

Allons enfants de la patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé ! (bis)
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes,
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras
Égorger nos fils, nos compagnes !
Refrain

Aux armes, citoyens !
Formez vos bataillons !
Marchons ! Marchons !
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons !